Attractive
and personable, Merriam was able to make the transition from the
classroom to the Chicago City Council and the rough give and take
of mayoral politics.

Harry
L. Hopkins to Charles E. Merriam, telegram, December 9, 1933.

Acknowledged as an authority on American social and political
issues, Merriam played a key role in bringing academic expertise
to bear on government policy.

Charles
E. Merriam | Political
Science

1874-1953The career of Charles Merriam
spanned a transitional period as the states became a nation and the nation
became an international power. He was part of the generation that came
of age during the Progressive period only to face the crises of both World
Wars and the Great Depression. Although he was never blind to the challenge
these events posed for the liberal commitment to democracy, Charles Merriam
maintained his belief that industrialization and science would enhance
rather than destroy the role of citizen participation in public affairs.

During his years as a political
science professor at the University of Chicago, Merriam actively participated
in the political process that was the focus of his academic research.
Merriam believed that at some point theories of political process needed
to be linked to practical political activity.

Although University administrators
were not uniformly enthusiastic about Merriam's political involvements,
he nonetheless plunged into the local electoral fray. His work as alderman
and on several commissions for the City of Chicago spanned almost two
decades, earning him a solid reputation in both Chicago and national political
circles for his efforts to root out corruption. Serving on several investigatory
commissions during the first two decades of the twentieth century, Merriam
gained favor among progressives by exposing fraudulent use of public funds,
although his work sometimes threatened Republican Party regulars. Even
after dropping out of direct office-seeking campaigns following his defeat
in the mayoral primary in 1919, Merriam continued to serve on local and
national committees for much of his life. President Herbert Hoover appointed
him to serve on the Research Committee on Social Trends, and he later
served on the National Resources Planning Board under Franklin D. Roosevelt.
His service under Roosevelt during the Great Depression brought him as
close as he ever came to realizing his goals of progressive social intervention
and change.

As
a political scientist, Merriam was intrigued by the methodology he saw
emerging in the fields of philosophy, sociology, psychology, and anthropology.
Merriam hoped to steer political theory along a path that incorporated
these methods but that resisted their deterministic tendencies. Often
called the father of the behavioral movement in political science, he
made the department at Chicago the nation's leader in the production of
more than a generation of major figures in the field.

Merriam's deep involvement
in philanthropic organizations, his teaching and writing, and his work
in creating the Social Science Research Council and the Public Administration
Clearing House exemplified his belief in the need for new organizations
for systematic reform. By utilizing systematic and objective analytical
methods, Merriam was convinced that the political process could be used
to improve the quality of life. Improvements in science and technology
were mass gains, as he often put it, and needed to benefit all people.